Here`s The Verdict: You Don`t Have To Agree With The Critics

RAY RECCHI

Write to me. Call me. Stop me on the street. Annoy me in a restaurant, or worse, in a jury room where I`m trapped. Flag me down at the mall. Threaten me. Go ahead. Some of you are doing it already.

It won`t matter. I am not firing any of this newspaper`s entertainment and arts critics -- individually or collectively -- just because you don`t agree with them.

OK? Is that understood? So go ahead and accuse them of having less than a high school education. Accuse them of being communists, humanists or any other kind of ists. Question their ancestry, if it helps.

Your basic gripe is that you don`t agree with them. That is certainly your right in this country. It is as much their right not to agree with you -- individually or collectively -- or with any or all of the other experts.

If it will make you happy, insert an understood ``I think`` or ``It seems to me`` before or after every critical sentence in a review. It might help you to understand that you are reading one person`s opinion of a particular film, show, concert, book or event.

Am I steamed? Of course not, silly. This is just the lead-in to my biannual ``How we do what we do`` column.

I suspected the time for this column was drawing near two weeks ago. I was on jury duty. While being questioned as a potential juror by one sincere, young attorney, I was asked, ``Are you responsible for Joe Bob?`` (Classical music critic Tim Smith said he thought it was about time I was put on trial for that. That, of course, is his opinion).

The judge wisely saved me from answering without benefit of counsel by saying somewhat impatiently, ``Let`s get on with it counselor.`` And so we did.

The following Monday, however, the Academy Awards were announced. That sealed it. When Amadeus was named Best Picture, I knew I would be hearing from all those people who needed to find out how we do what we do. You know who you are.

It is interesting to note at this time that Amadeus was given two stars, not by film critic Candice Russell but by theater critic Terry Kelleher, who also reviews films. Russell, however, agreed with that assessment, even though she predicted Amadeus would win the Best Picture Oscar.

That last paragraph defines, in essence, how criticism works. For Russell and Kelleher, Amadeus was not nearly the best film of the year. They could not, in good conscience, praise it as such. But Russell also knows how the award process works and was thus correctly able to predict it would win the Academy Award.

But do I get letters and phone calls from people saying they don`t agree with a film, theater, television or music critic? No. I get letters and phone calls from people who want particular critics to be severely reprimanded or fired. And why? Because they don`t agree with them. Sounds pretty communist to me.

Besides, we can`t possibly agree with you. There are too many of you. And you don`t even agree with each other.

The object of criticism is to give an informed opinion. You do it all the time. You go to a movie, concert or play, you watch a television show, you read a book, and you make a value judgment as to whether you liked it, and often why or why not. You tell people. Based on how much they trust your judgment, they make a decision on whether they will attend, watch or read.

We do the same thing, except we do it for a living. But that doesn`t mean we have to agree with anyone. A bad critic is not a critic with whom you don`t agree. A bad critic is one who offers no opinion at all.